A Saltgrass Cowboy Learns at a Young Age, Get Back in the Saddle and Learn a New Trick

By Ruth Ann Ruiz

The Post Newspaper Features Editor

Cowboys grappling to stay atop of an animal is a fascination that brings out audiences of all ages. Livestock are selected, groomed and brought out for the public to admire and buyers to purchase.  Judges award the prime animals with a blue ribbon.

 It’s rodeo time! Across the great state of Texas, rodeos are in full swing and will continue through most of the spring months.

Rodeos are a tradition of the West and it takes a dedication to livestock to continue to carry out this great tradition. But not all livestock end up on display for public delight and not all bulls are corralled into bucking off cowboys. Some are raised for the market place where they will eventually end up on our dinner tables and adding shape to our boots, purses, chairs and many other items made of cowhide. 

All the livestock, skills and talent needed to fill a rodeo and our dinner start on a ranch, pasture or farm someplace. Galveston County has a proud history of cattle ranchers whose legacies continue to support the Texas cattle business. 

Down here in the Gulf Coast, the history of raising cattle that feed on saltgrass is a tradition that cattlemen like Gilbert Gustafson continue to keep alive. His first memories of being in love with livestock in the pastures and saltgrass marshes began when he was a child at his grandfather’s ranch in La Marque. 

Gustafson was born in Galveston and graduated from La Marque High School. Before he hit adulthood, he was making deals in the cattle industry. “I bought my first cow when I was 17 and put it at Grandpa’s place,” said Gustafson.  

We all know there’s got to be a story in the 17-year-old’s first livestock purchase, sure enough there is a tale to tell.

“I thought she was just a fat heifer who couldn’t breed, so I sold her,” Gustafson admits. “But when I got her to market, I learned she had a calf in her and that’s why she was so fat,” he continued.

Well, he took a loss on that first livestock purchase, but he took his loss like a true cowboy and got back on his saddle continuing, in the cattle business as a ranch hand for local cattle ranches.

There is more to the 17-year-old boy’s story. He knew he would need cash to develop his own breeding herd someday and he understood the value of real estate in building his future, so young Gustafson bought himself two lots on Moses Lake.

“I was too young to have it in my own name so my Mama had to be on the title. But I had to make the payments, $50 a month to pay off the lots. Mamma was worried, but I managed to earn the money and make the payments. Then I bought three more lots on Moses Lake. After six years, I sold all five lots,” Gustafson recalls his youth and accomplishments. 

Somewhere along his trail, Gustafson also picked up plumbing skills and has had his own plumbing company for more than four decades. His specialty is plumbing for refineries. He Is endorsed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as a water supply protection specialist.  

Age is just a number, they say, and Gilbert’s number is 77. He’s spent a lifetime learning the cattle, plumbing and real estate business. He has never lived anyplace other than Galveston County. “I’m a true Texan,” said Gustafson. 

As he drives along the roadways of Galveston County, he points to places and speaks of what different acreages once were. He talks of his friends in the cattle industry and knows just about how many heads of cattle are roaming on a plot of land. He has 160 heads in his herd. 

He has bought and sold more cattle than he can remember, but one thing that he has not forgotten is how to figure out if a cow is carrying a calf or it is just a fat cow. “I went and took a class and learned how to pull on an arm’s length rubber glove and go in to feel for a calf,” explained Gustafson. 

His lifelong husbandry studies have made him a wise expert who younger cattle herders turn to for advice. “Gilbert is a wealth of knowledge, if I ever have any questions about cattle he’s the first person I call. He advises me on calves and their nutritional needs,” said Dan Arnold who has a herd of 60. 

Gustafson drives down a pasture in a pickup truck that has lots of dents, dings and scratches. Behind his truck is a feed hopper.  The cattle make their way from across a stream to chase Gustafson. The animals bang into his truck making more dents as they chase after their rancher.

They aren’t following Gustafson for his charming boyish looks; nope, they are just being animals chasing after his feed hopper. Though they do consume the saltgrass growing at the edge of Moses Lake, the cattle are eager chew on the feed in Gilbert’s hopper. 

“Brahaman cows like mine need more than saltgrass to make it through this rough country so I supplement their diet with the feed,” Gustafson explained.

His chest is stitched together with steel cables from a quadruple bypass surgery. His wrist is kept together with a steel plate and some medical nuts and bolt and he lives with aches and pains from a lifetime of hard work. Yet, none of this is going to stop him. Gustafson isn’t planning on slowing down, as he continues to breed and sell his cattle and enjoys the life of a Texas cowboy in Galveston County.